familypediawikiaorg-20200214-history
Elizabeth Fisher (1596-1638)
}} Research Notes Stephen Hopkins (1581-1644) came on the Mayflower with Elizabeth Hopkins, possibly his second wife, although her situation is not clear and she may have been Hopkins' third or even fourth wife. His children Giles and Constance, referred to by Bradford as being children of a former wife who may have been Hopkins first wife, although this also is not clear. This wife was also probably the mother of an older daughter Elizabeth who may have been deceased prior to the Mayflower departure.35 Author Simon Neal, in a June 2012 Mayflower Quarterly article on this family, for purposes of convenience, assumes Elizabeth to be Hopkins second wife and the mother of Giles and Constance to be children of the unknown first wife. The identity of his wife Elizabeth is unknown, although there is a marriage record in the parish registers of St. Mary Whitechapel in London for a Stephen Hopkins to Elizabeth Fisher on 19 February 1617/18, and it has been commonly established that this is the second marriage of Mayflower passenger Stephen Hopkins. And although it cannot be particularly assumed that this was Hopkin's second marriage, it does fit into the time-period.35 Although there is no evidence found to date of what happened to the Stephen Hopkins and Elizabeth Fisher who married at St. Mary Whitechapel, author Simon Neal assumes that they were the Mayflower couple for the purposes of his research on this family. A search by Neal of baptisms in St. Mary Whitechapel in the second half of the 16th century reveals an Elizabeth Fisher who was baptized on 3 March 1582, but her father is not named and it is almost impossible to find out anything about her family. This Elizabeth would have been about age 35 when she married Stephen Hopkins and would have been close to his age, as he was thought to have been born about 1581. Neal concludes that it is not possible to trace the origins of the Elizabeth Fisher who married Stephen Hopkins in the parish of St. Mary Whitechapel. She could have been from that parish or somewhere nearby in London or Stepney and of the Fisher family of Great Coates in North-east Lincolnshire. And Neal emphasizes that there is no conclusive evidence that this is the same couple who embarked on the Mayflower but is assumed by most genealogists to be so.37 Elizabeth had already died when her husband Stephen wrote his will on 6 June 1644 as in it he asks to be buried next to his deceased wife Elizabeth. Vital Records * 1623 Plymouth Land Census Pilgrim Monument National Monument to the Forefathers, commemorates the Mayflower Pilgrims, (including this person) who came to Plymouth Colony in 1620 on the Mayflower. Dedicated on August 1, 1889, it is thought to be the world's largest solid granite monument. Located on an 11 acre hilltop site on Allerton Street in Plymouth, Massachusetts. References * [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1425796338/maintourvacationA/ Here Shall I Die Ashore] - The Story of Stephen Hopkins: Bermuda Castaway, Jamestown Survivor, and Mayflower Pilgrim by noted genealogist and early American historian Caleb Johnson. A very exhaustive collection of Family History of this famous English colonist and his descendants. *Caleb Johnson, The American Genealogist 73:161-171, “The True English Origins of Stephen Hopkins of the Mayflower”, July 1998. His first wife was not Constance Dudley, though this erroneous name is given by older references. * Hopkins in Plymouth County, Massachusetts * Elizabeth Fisher - disambiguation Category: People honored on National Monument to the Forefathers Category: Mayflower passengers Category: Migrants from England to Plymouth Colony